Newsle er No 24. The Elton Times. 20th November 2017

Transcript

1 The Elton Times Newsle er No 24 20th November 2017 Welcome to the latest edi on of The Elton Times, a fortnightly bulle n for parents and carers to provide updates and informa on regarding life at The Elton High School. These past two weeks have seen the annual Remembrance services held across the country and in school we discussed the theme of remembrance and war in assemblies. While the general focus of remembrance is for those who died in the First and Second World Wars, it is part of a greater theme of human sacrifice and personal responsibility - a theme that we are constantly reinforcing to the students. One of the lesser known stories about personal responsibility in the me of war has recently been publicised from within Russia, with a senior officer in a Russian submarine being honoured 55 years a er his ac ons averted nuclear war. Vasili Arkhipov was on board a Russian submarine near Cuba in 27 October 1962, when US warships began dropping depth charges. The US warships were trying to bring the Russian submarines to the surface as peacefully as possible and the depth charges were not lethal - they were designed to cause no damage to the submarines. However, the Russian sailors did not know this and they had no communica on with the outside world from their submarine. They were trapped in a sweltering sub and were fearful of death. Furthermore, unknown to the US forces, the Russian sub was armed with a ten kilo nuclear missile. Two of the vessel's senior officers wanted to fire the nuclear missile, with the captain being recorded as saying "We're gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all." However, all three officers had to agree for the missile to be launched and Arkhipov refused to offer his agreement. He calmed the captain down and the missile was never launched. Had it been fired, then the a ack would probably have started a nuclear war which would have caused catastrophic loss of life. Now, nineteen years a er his death, Arkhipov is to be honoured by the Future of Life Ins tute, which publicises threats to humanity. His daughter Elena recently sais the following about her father, "He always tried to do the right thing. He always thought that he did what he had to do and never considered his ac ons as heroic." As one of the lesser stories from warfare and conflict, this serves as the ul mate example to all our students about how to conduct themselves and think about the consequences of their ac ons. Last week saw our annual Presenta on Evening take place, which was a fantas c celebra on of students' achievements and efforts. A review is in this issue, along with details of the various ac vi es and events that are con nuing across school on a regular basis. Just a brief reminder that school is closed for a staff training day this Friday (24th November), with the key event of Year 9 Parents' Evening then scheduled for the following Thursday (30th November). Thanks for your con nuing support and, as ever, please contact me directly if you have any concerns or queries about any aspect of life here at Elton. wiltonj@eltonhigh.bury.sch.uk. Jonathan Wilton

2 On Thursday 16th November our annual Presenta on Evening took place in the main school hall. The event celebrated the achievements of students from Years 8 to 11 for their outstanding a ainment and effort across the full range of subjects. With only two students being nominated from each subject for each year group, it was a real achievement to receive an award and we congratulate the successful students. The awards were presented by James Frith, MP for Bury North, who delivered a keynote speech about people contribu ng to the wider world and emphasising the role that each individual must play. There were fantas c performances from the school choir, the school rock band and the Samba Band, while Edward Russell performed a solo piece of music on the keyboard. The event was packed with parents, students and a number of our governors and came to a conclusion with the Head Boy and Head Girl delivering the vote of thanks. It was a lovely evening which paid due recogni on to the successes of these outstanding students.

3 IMPORTANT NOTICE - EDULINK All parents and carers should have received login details for the Edulink One app by . The free app can be downloaded to any Apple or Android device and will allow you to access informa on from school directly. The informa on available includes details of homework and we hope that this will help you to support your child with their independent study outside of school. The login details for each parent account have been sent to the main address given on the school registra on forms for each child. If you require any further informa on, please contact our New Technologies Co-ordinator Mr Aldred at aldredp@eltonhigh.bury.sch.uk. As ever, we would urge you to take all the usual precau ons to ensure the security of your child s data, such as locking devices when not in use and logging out of the app regularly. REVISION FOCUS With mock examina ons planned for Year 11 next month, many students will be naviga ng the process of revising for a sustained sequence of examina ons for the first me. To help you to support your child during this process, here are some recommenda ons we promote in school to develop good study habits: Chunk: Students should aim to work for short chunks of me on a regular basis, ideally following a structure or metable to make sure every subject is revisited regularly minute periods of me are perfect for revision tasks. Challenge: Students should focus the me they have for revision on their areas of weakness. Change: Rather than reading revision guides or notes, students should do something with them. For example, they could create flashcards from a revision guide, or change bullet-point notes into a mindmap. Reward: We encourage students to plan regular rewards into their revision schedule and to ensure they relax adequately in the me before exams. Some advice on rou nes for revising at home can also be found on the next page.

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5 University of Salford GCSE Maths in Ac on Event (16 Nov) Last Thursday, 32 year 10 students enjoyed a day of entertaining, memorable and thought-provoking presenta ons from eminent speakers highligh ng the power and applica on of mathema cs in today s world, hosted at the University of Salford. Simon Singh, the renowned writer and broadcaster, got the day off to a good start with a talk which spanned a variety of topics. He showed research which indicated that people with degrees in Maths and Computer Science or Engineering degree can expect to earn an addi onal 250,000 over their life me in salary. Only a degree in medicine surpasses that figure. He also revealed the li le known fact that many of the writers on The Simpsons comedy show are research-level mathema cians. In homage to their love of the subject, they regularly slip references into the show, From calculus to geometry, from pi to game theory, and from infinitesimals to infinity. Click here to read more about this. (Homer seemingly disproving Fermat s Last Theorem!) (Dr Grime and the machine, whose discovery, turned the de of WWII) Next up was Stephen Lynch from Manchester Metropolitan University who talked about cu ng-edge research he is engaged in, which is looking to replicate brain dynamics in the world of compu ng. The average human brain consists of about 100 billion neurons connected by around 1000 trillion synapses - it's the most powerful computer known. This approach is set to revolu onise computer processing power, and his patented design will likely lead to the fastest supercomputer on the planet. Chairperson for the day, Cerys Bradly, talked about the different levels of the Internet. What we see and find through browsers such as Google account only for 1% of what is on the Internet. The rest is known as the deep web, and lurking in this is dark web, where special permissions are needed to access the informa on. Unsurprisingly, a lot of cyber-crime is commi ed at this level, and her research work at the University College of London is helping the police to track down people using the web for nefarious ac vi es. A er the lunch break, Dr James Grime gave a fascina ng talk looking at the history and mathema cs of codes and code breaking-from ancient Greece to the present day. He showed how all forms of modern-day encryp on, from s to personal banking details rely on huge prime numbers. His talk culminated in an onstage demonstra on of an original World War II German Enigma encryp on machine! Dr Emily Grossman, a regular panellist on the television comedy Duck Quacks Don't Echo, gave an amusing and light-hearted talk, highligh ng how the media o en abuses and misuses sta s cs, knowingly and unknowingly. She busted several myths which had gained media coverage, such as life expectancy for le -handed people is less than right-handed people, and that cats get more stressed when they are stroked. At face value, the facts and figures appear to support these statements. However when you delve into the data collec on, fundamental flaws have skewed the results.

6 University of Salford GCSE Maths in Ac on Event (16 Nov) Rounding the day off, Australian mathema cian Colin Wright gave a highly interac ve talk on game theory. He demonstrated that several games played by children of all ages have mathema cal connec ons between them. By studying the underlying maths it is possible to develop strategies to maximise the chances of winning. (Dr Emily Grossman) A special shout-out is deserved for Dziugas Guobis, who asked the speakers many interes ng ques ons and volunteered to go onstage to help in a demonstra on to show how internet security operates using proxy browsers. Joseph Edwards, Anastasia Anastassiou and Lucy Watson also worked out (without calculators) the power of 2 needed to approximate one million. Sean Loughman and Tom Yates proved to be unbeatable at the strategy game Avoid the Neighbour. A game which Mr Simpson trounced me at! All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable and educa onal event. Mr Wilson.

7 Previous ques on: Solu on: 19 Well done to Sophie Sandiford (9H) and Anastasia Anastassiou (10) Come see me in Room 18 to collect your voucher. This week s puzzle: This week s problem is worded like many of the new problem solving ques ons on the GCSE. Andrea's petrol tank holds up to 44 litres of fuel. She goes to the garage when her tank is a quarter full and fills up the tank un l it is two-thirds full. How many litres of petrol does she put in the tank? Don t delay! your answer to me at matherj@eltonhigh.bury.sch.uk for a chance to win those vouchers! Thank you. Miss Mather.

8 This half term Year 8 s homework project was to produce a piece of work all about the life of Henry VIII and his six wives. The challenge was to conduct the research independently and present this in any way they liked. The outcomes were phenomenal! They then had the opportunity to look at each others work and leave as many posi ve comments as they liked! Here are just a few examples other projects included books, PowerPoint presenta ons, a Lego movie and quizzes. Well done, Year 8!

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10 SPANISH CLUB DIA DE LOS MUERTOS WORKSHOP Year 7 students enjoyed learning about this vibrant Mexican festival and its fascinating traditions. They carefully decorated biscuits and masks in the style of spooky sugar skulls and watched videos of the celebrations and parades in Mexican cities. Holly Mackay (Year 7) had to design a poster for the Theme Let s Green Grey Britain as part of the Bury in Bloom compe on. There were over 350 entries this year and Holly was one of ten children who won a cer ficate, goody bag from Tesco and goody bag from Bury Recycling Team. She also met the Mayor and had a light tea in her parlour.

11 Some Year 11 students had the opportunity to visit Bury College last week. During their visit they took part in an A Level English lesson focusing on the poetry of William Blake, delivered by the Head of English at the college, and were given a guided tour of the Millennium Campus, a modern facility which houses the English, Media, History and Engineering classrooms (amongst others). The students conducted themselves impeccably and showed resilience when a emp ng even very challenging tasks. Some were less enthusias c about having their picture taken, though... A very proud evening at Holy Cross College on Wednesday as we were invited to perform one of our GCSE Dance exam pieces. All our pupils from the Year 11 class performed at Holy Cross Dance evening along with local dance schools. Well done to you all! Congratula ons to the Year 7 boys who made their debut performance last week for Team Elton. The team, captained by Alexander Yates, beat To ngton and Broadoak convincingly in the first round of the Bury Schools 9-a-side tournament. It was a brilliant team performance and a strong start to their High School football careers. Thank you to a Michael and Sco from Year 10 for refereeing the games.

12 Congratula ons to all who had the opportunity to run at The Bury Schools Cross Country Championships on Tuesday 14 th November. Here are our results: Grace Gibson 3 rd Emma Rayner 3 rd Ka e Rayner 5 th Ka e King 6 th Adam Akik 7 th Freya McGinty 10 th Kathryn Livesey 15 th Olivia Daly 19 th Molly Rivers 17 th Year 7 girls came 2nd Year 10/11 girls came 4th Year 8/9 girls and boys came 5th Year 10/11 boys came 7 th It was an amazing day with a great set of results. Also the students finishing in top 12 have been invited to run for Bury in The Greater Manchester Cross Country Championships. All compe tors gave their absolute best and although there were some nerves at the start, every single student performed outstandingly well! Fantas c spirit and enthusiasm was demonstrated by all.

13 The next edi on of The Elton Times will be ed on Monday 4th December 2017.